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According to Pasternak, during the 1937 show trial of General Iona Yakir and Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky, the Union of Soviet Writers requested all members to add their names to a statement supporting the death penalty for the defendants.
They demanded Pasternak's signature as well, but he refused to give it.
Vladimir Stavski, the chairman of the Union, was terrified that he himself would be punished for Pasternak's dissent.
The leadership of the Union travelled to Peredelkino and severely threatened Pasternak, who refused to sign the statement and returning to his dacha.
Upon his arrival there, his pregnant second wife, Zinaida Pasternak threw herself on the floor, weeping and accusing her husband of risking the destruction of their family.
Pasternak, however, still would not be moved and went to bed.
Boris and Zinaida expected to be arrested that evening.
They later learned that an NKVD agent was hiding in the bushes outside their window and wrote down every word they said to each other.

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